The bank said in a statement its first-half net profit hit 6.7 billion Qatari riyals ($1.84 billion), up about 7 percent from 6.25 billion a year earlier as loans grew 11 percent.

The bank reported a net profit of 3.5 billion riyals in the three months to June 30, compared with 3.38 billion riyals in the corresponding period of 2016, Reuters calculated in the absence of a quarterly breakdown.

Three analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast QNB would make a quarterly net profit of 3.027 billion riyals.

The results were the first since Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt on June 5 decided to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and impose stringent economic sanctions on it.

The bank said on June 14 that it had seen no significant outflows of deposits since the rift started, adding that it had a "robust" liquidity position. ($1 = 3.6411 Qatar riyals) (Reporting by Saeed Azhar, Editing by Sylvia Westall)